Testing Resolve – a British Perspective
America
Testing Resolve – a British Perspective
23 August 2026
Page 1
I
YouTube premium has the edge on the television news channels, both national and globally.
YouTube premium covers important news events in depth but which are either scant or absent on the TV channels. iPlayer enables me to catch up, and BBC News now actively reminds viewers to view the full content on the BBC YouTube channel. YouTube channel is here to stay. It has both serious and frivolous content, and is open to abuse by those who seek to propagandise ~ the Goebbels snare.
This is important when seeking accurate coverage of events relating to USA politics. With the midterms approaching, I watch the American independent journalists on YouTube, and obtain a very different picture to that which I might see on such things as Fox News or even CNN and BBC News America. Always, there is this question…
“Why are the news channels silent on this aspect of US politics? Why do I sense that the White House press corps values its ‘residency’ more than being that litmus paper test for every action by government and by individual members of the government?”
YouTube also reports extensively on the United Kingdom and its positive involvement in the defence of Ukraine, the logistics, supply of military hardware to the Ukrainian Armed Forces to not only defend their country but also to conduct very serious and deep offensive operations inside Russia. It is no longer possible for Vladimir Putin to maintain the lie that his ‘special military operation’ is in a far away place from the Russian electorate; that this 'denazification’ once complete, will see Ukraine subjugated and brought back into the Russian fold.
Alas for the Kremlin, the war is being systematically brought into the deepest parts of the Russian empire.
II
I learn from YouTube that NATO is, bluntly, aggressively responding. I learn how NATO and the USA are working together notwithstanding the mercurial, changing within the hour, let alone day by day ‘oddball’ comments made by that man in the White House. How much longer must the world wait for the American People to demand that the Twenty-Fifth Amendment be promulgated? Or, as the man and woman in the street might say, how much longer before the men in white coats arrive at the White House?
I have always supported the United States of America. I have many American friends. Candidly, I keep them at arms length now. That is the nuclear fallout of their 45th and now 47th president ~ the American TV reality apprentice transposing his make-believe world - his reality - onto real events, real crises, real lives.
In a phrase, who has quietly persuaded me to not pull all articles relating to America - both current and historic - on this website? His Majesty King Charles III R, in his Address to the combined Congress and that same evening the King’s reply to the 47th at the White House Dinner.
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III
History will treat this period of the 45th and 47th, and of the man personally, akin to how my generation (I am 73) still regards the twelve horrifying years of the Third Reich and of Adolf Hitler and his gang. To MAGA bods ~ I don’t expect you to grasp this. You’ve been lied to. You’ve been treated as the garbage trash. Metaphorically, one dirty old man has raped and pillaged you en masse. And still, the diehards amongst you come back for more.
IV
Every democratic nation is under threat of subversion. We know this. Our national and international institutions are threatened. Our universities are being upended by vociferous minorities.
Think of Germany in 1933. The vociferous minority is presumed to be the silent majority, and the silent majority is presumed therefore to be the vociferous minority. In any society, when this complete reversal takes place, as it did in 1933 with the appointment of Adolf Hitler as chancellor of Germany when he did not hold the majority of the popular vote, worldwide catastrophe followed the like of which had never been seen in recorded history.
“The vociferous minority is presumed to be the silent majority, and the silent majority is presumed therefore to be the vociferous minority, worldwide catastrophe WILL follow.”
V
The 47th American presidency has done that which ordinary people had never expected! The 47th is relegated to the idiocy of the emperor with no clothes.
When institutions are corrupted and hollowed out from within, even the removal of all corrupt politicians, will require a gargantuan effort by all of the American people – of all parties and none – uniting as one people, working together to rebuild. That rebuilding will take at least ten years, even twenty years.
The old system, republican, democrat and independent, are all past the sell-by-date. There must be swift change. Do it carefully, methodically, precisely. Leave no stone unturned. Unlock files that are hidden from the light of day because they reval the truth.
Young Americans of all colours and creeds, regardless of background, especially, need to know that they can rebuild their Nation based upon the principles established by the Founding Fathers enshrined in the United States Constitution and the July 4 1776 Declaration of Independence.
I smile when I think that it has taken the grandson five times removed of King George III to actually touch the rudder in his Address to Congress.
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VI
For my American friends – and there are many – it is known that I used to set high score by the television drama series at the turn of the century: THE WEST WING. Through that long Series I was able to grasp a little understandung of American politics.That is how I generally imagined the workings of the White House when I was in my late forties.
What I see today, it is fair to say, none of us here in the
United Kingdom would have foreseen the trouble that
America is now in.
AI artwork by KTW via Midjourney
The plight of every American citizen is captured perfectly in the disgraceful situation the world observes on the USS Abraham Lincoln and the other American warships on station within that Strike Group. What is even worse is the American president’s response – that the sailors, marines and Airmen “have not been there long enough.”
In my younger days, I was commissioned in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. Therefore, any American will understand where my sympathies lie.
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VII
I have had a varied life, three careers, my first 11 years 1970-1981 with the Gloucestershire Constabulary, and enriching memories, lessons and practical experience. Invalided out of the police force, resulting from sudden seizures traced to a violent assault impacting my head, marked one career. Fortunately, my RAF VR Service was allowed to continue (1974-1991). On the advice of the chief constable, even though it seemed to me that I was leaping into deepest darkness, I studied hard and eventually practised law in probate and trusts and succession, attorneyship and court of protection for 29 years (1982-2010). That was tough, make no mistake about it! For five years I became the practice manager of a criminal law practice with branches in Cheltenham, Gloucester, and Bristol. When that ended in 1998, I returned to practise Law until 2010.
In all of that time, I simply could not have envisaged the 45th and 47th presidencies of the USA.
VIII
I believe that the American people will make the right decisions and slowly guide their nation back from the brink, in the November midterms.
If they do not, then the future for the USA is not bright.
It will signal the end of the USA as we know it. Recently, an American was asked to name three countries. Easy-peasy. I thought I was watching a clip from the British Mastermind. ‘Erm, Africa?’
That told me much. The entire continent of Africa is seen as one country.
Well, I guess I have the advantage, being from a member state of the Commonwealth of Nations (52 nations). The Continent of Africa comprises 54 sovereign nations (as well as two partially recognised nation states) and which are all members of the United Nations and the African Union; of which 21 nations within the Continent of Africa are also members of the Commonwealth of Nations.
Oh! And to my American friend who thought that America was the head of the Commonwealth… I understand the confusion. You cannot be the head of a collection of peoples of whom you are not a member.
How is it that this unawareness of the world is so deeply rooted? And how is it that US valid passports in July 2026[i] stands at just 41%-53%? That means between 47-59% of US citizens on 10 July 2026 do not hold valid US passports. Yet, upon the same date the UK Office of National Statistics reports:
Page 5
Breakdown of United Kingdom Passport Ownership
Hold a passport (any type): 86.5% of residents.
Hold a UK passport: 76.7% of residents.
Hold a non-UK passport only: 9.9% of residents.
No passport held: 13.5% of residents (down from 16.9% in 2011). [ii]
And this is generally reflected throughout the European Union. We have always been globe-trotters. The first thirteen former colonies of the USA in 1776 are proof.
IX
Something else has happened. The era of all of us naturally presuming that the USA is “the leader of the free world” has gone. It is not a case of having popped to bed for a quick nap. That term no longer applies.
What I find is that the European Union and the United Kingdom and Canada and Australia and New Zealand all draw ever closer together. At the epicentre is Ukraine. We know that Ukraine will be one day a member of the European Union and a member of NATO.
Will the USA be part of NATO? I think so. But when NATO met in Davos, Switzerland, this year, as usual, the POTUS kept everybody waiting, and when he did arrive, like a truculent bully boy in the playground, he grimaced “I’m the boss!” I had to play that part back. Surely the president didn’t say that? Goodness me. He did!
In that moment, the body language of every member of NATO crystallised and was captured later during a short break. America was out in the cold and it is not going to be easy to come back in from the cold and this was perfectly captured in this still on the screen…
Out in the Cold - June 2026 NATO Summit, DAVOS, Switzerland.
Image by courtesy of the BBC (I hold a current BBC Licence) by iPhone camera KTW
The world now sees America very differently. The world wants to see Americans succeed, to have the lifestyles and wealth and free healthcare that we tend to take for granted.
I enjoy listening to Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia. I like his clinical approach, particularly when he is questioning government officials.
I applaud the independent journalists such as David Pakman and Jack Cocchiarella, John Stewart and the Team on The Daily Show, Lawrence O’Donnell and the Team on MS NOW, Ben Meiselas and the Meidastouch Network.
All of these confirm to me that the United States of America will come through this and all will work together to begin rebuilding, but not rebuilding the old, because we know that the old institutions have failed, regardless of which party was in government.
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As Governor Gavin Newsom has explained to Jack Cocchiarella only this weekend, I paraphrase…
“It is necessary to build afresh upon the Founding Fathers, upon the Declaration of Independence and upon the American Constitution and making sure that what is built is fit for purpose for the foreseeable future.”
I have every confidence that the Greater American People will achieve this and they will have the support of the free, independent and democratic nations worldwide.
X
As the independent Sovereign Nation State of Canada has announced this weekend, the Trade Deal negotiations with the USA have been called off. America has brought about a trade war with its closest ally.
I giggle as I write this last paragraph, but do so without imperial designs.
America sailed very close to the wind when the 47th insisted that Greenland must be occupied, and if need be, by military force, and become the 51st state of America.
But boy oh boy, did America almost go down the proverbial plug hole by suggesting that Canada must also become an American state and that the Canadian Prime Minister was already simply an American governor.
Believe me, and it did not take a genius to spot it during the Address to Congress, nor at the State Banquet that evening in July, the gentle reminder by King Charles III R that he happens also to be his Majesty King Charles III of Canada. He said it in a rather roundabout way by his very respectful mention of Australia. Now that is high diplomacy. Alas, the 47th seems not to have grasped that.
When Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada twice referred to the Privy Council in his speech this weekend, I could almost hear the 47th muttering ‘wot’s dat? A toilet? Wot’s ‘e talking about dur toilet for Natalie?’
For me it was a very clear reference. The Canadian Prime Minister was also using the language of high diplomacy , for the Canadian Privy Council draws a direct line to the Nation’s head of State ~ King Charles III R of Canada.
We Brits have a way of saying things without actually directly saying things! Always remember that. My American friends will know exactly what I mean, and if not initially, they get there in the end! ;)
23 August 2026
All Rights Reserved
Gloucestershire and Liverpool
© 2026 Kenneth Thomas Webb
Banner Image is by courtesy of Caleb Fisher @calebjamesfisher via Unsplash through Squarespace
[i] Rustic Pathways Statistics – 10 July 2026
[ii] United Kingdom Office of National Statistics – July 2026
